Why not visit Rukungiri yourself?

If you have ever played with the idea of seeing the Project in action, but didn’t know where to start, this is the year to do something about it!

An organisation called Mission Direct has taken on a new Project this year. They will be taking out teams of volunteers to start work on a unit for disabled children within a local church school. Kitazigurukwa School (featured in our last newsletter) needs classrooms, dormitories, staff rooms and a kitchen, so 2012 may just be the beginning. This new unit is the fulfilment of a dream for us in Chilli Children. Currently there are no schools in Rukungiri that cater for the many disabled children on the Project’s books. The Project Team have been very involved with discussions and planning for the new unit and are very excited about the new possibilities it will bring. As part of the Mission Direct ‘package’ you will also be able to visit a family who grow chillies, a club foot clinic, a LifeSkills Clinic and the Nyakibale deaf unit.

The teams which are going out this summer are:

7 – 24 June (Teaching Trip)                           

9 – 24 June

30 June – 15 July

21 July – 5 August

11 – 26 August

11 – 26 August (Medical Trip)

1 – 16 September

All these teams still have places left, although the 11-26 August team only has one place left.

For more information about visiting Uganda with Mission Direct go to www.missiondirect.org

To book a trip contact Jonathan on 01582589983 or e-mail jonathan.brown@missiondirect.org

Photo: One of the children who attend the current very small unit for the disabled which is already attached to the school.

Chilly Chilli Runners.

Members of Kirkmuirhill church and community in Scotland have been fundraising over the last couple of years to pay for a new 4x4 ambulance for the Project. Last year they formed the Chilli Runners, and these brave souls have run 3 miles every day through the month of February. This year the Chilli Runners have been joined by Chilli Walkers; please check out their web page on the Virgin Giving site.

Two children with Cerebral Palsy

On a catch-up phone call with Project Manager, Evas, on 16th January we heard that two new ‘little ones’ came to the Project office with their mothers that morning. They were aged 17 months and nearly 2 years old. One had Athetoid Cerebral Palsy and the other Evas described as ‘floppy'. They had travelled from a remote village and until now the parents had not known whom to turn to.

The mothers were feeling miserable and hopeless when they arrived, but Evas was able to talk with them at length. She explained how to handle their children so as to minimise their difficulties, and she showed them the wooden seats which the project could provide.

She wanted to give them each a pair of shoes but sadly her supply, brought by supporters from Britain, is running low and she didn’t have any that fit them. She also offered the mothers a tyre to use at home to help their children to sit up, but because of the difficulty of carrying it home they were not able to take it with them.

In their desperation to help their children they had used up precious and scarce family finances to travel to Rukungiri, and could not afford to pay for transport for the whole way back.

Evas described how when the children got hungry they shared a banana and an egg with her own little boy Timothy, whilst she and the mothers drank a cup of tea. She explained to them all about the Project's Chilli Growing scheme and the Life Skills Clinics, and by the time they left Evas described the two mothers as ‘happy’ and ‘committed’ to helping their children.

This true story is also an everyday tale which sums up what the Project is all about - helping families.

Photos: other children Cerabal Palsy

Winter prayer requests

Together with Project Manager Evas we list our main prayer requests based on the projects needs throughout the year. We hope our supporters who pray for the Project find this useful and something to share with others.

View our Winter prayer requests - now online.

Many thanks / Wabale munonga for your support this year.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and best wishes for 2012!

A phone call with Evas

In a phone call with Project Manager Evas, here Trustee Sue shares the latest news.

Chilli
The Team have just returned from a ‘chilli safari’ - they have been visiting all the little local centres and buying up chilli.

Selling Village
This week the Team are making final arrangements to buy a piece of land on which they plan to build what we are dubbing a ‘selling village’. This was an idea of Pat Gilmer’s. The plan is to build a couple of homes with shop fronts where some of the older disabled children who have graduated from school will be able to set up small businesses.

Measuring some plots

Architect's drawing of homes with shop fronts

Special School
Also this week the Education office, church and community are having meetings to discuss the possibility of opening a new unit for multiply disabled children near to Rukungiri. It is still early days but this would be a truly wonderful thing as the vast majority of children with disabilities are unable to access any education at present.

Carpenter Training
Evas has arranged for the carpenter from Rukungiri to go to Kampala for training in making special chairs for the disabled. He has been doing this for some time, but we now have the funding (only £100 as it turns out) for him to have a week’s training.

‘Urology children’
Evas is also trying to make arrangements for a group of children with severe debilitating bladder disorders to be assessed by a Urologist in Kampala in December as there is a chance that they may be offered free operations by an American organisation which was set up to train local Paediatric Urologists in developing countries. This may not be until 2013 but we would really value your prayers for these children.

Heart children
Two of the children who were assessed recently by a cardiologist in Kampala are still very poorly (these two have multiple holes in the heart and are not expected to live). Please continue to pray for them. Evas is obviously very moved and saddened by their situation.

 Evas at a life skills clinic

This is just some of the news from the Project, no doubt we will have more details on some of these new ventures as time goes on.

News update from the Project

Last week Trustee Sue heard the latest news from Project Manager Evas:

Jones from the Project Team took Abias, one of the spine patient children, up to Kampala last week as his stitches had got infected - they have given him antibiotics for this.

Two other spine patients need to be reviewed on November 8th in Kampala by the Ugandan surgeon who is working for the American charity ‘Ugandan Charitable Spine Mission’.

8 heart patients and 8 carers went up to Kampala for diagnosis recently. 2 children (aged 6 and 16 have multiple holes in their hearts and the prognosis is very bad, even an operation is unlikely to help.) 1 may need mitral valve surgery, and there are others who are being short listed for help from Chain of Hope.

The Project have a growing number of children with cleft lip and palates and are planning another plastic surgery ‘camp’ at CoRSU hospital in February.

A Mission Direct team recently had a good visit and were able to see a lot of children cared for by the Project. They saw our ‘heart conditions group’, Abias, as well as children with hydrocephalus and spina bifida, and also the 2 children who need colostomy bags, and they are keen to help.

Follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook for more updates.

Survey to register new children with disabilities

The Project Team have now started a comprehensive survey to register new children with disabilities. The fact that they are proactive in looking for these children is a hallmark of the Project. If they waited for the families to find them, then a considerable number of children would not access any medical help or therapy.

So far the Project team have visited some centres in Kanungu and a small area of Rukungiri. They have already registered 25 children requiring surgery, and seen others who need to go up to Kampala for review. They have registered 15 orthopaedic cases for the planned surgical camp in November at Kisiizi Hospital and 10 children so far with either cleft lips and palates or burns who are to go to CoRSU Hospital in February next year.

As usual when they go out on a survey the Team have also seen a lot of children with cerebral palsy, and some with other disabilities. As well as registering new children they have been able to advise and help families.

Find out more about the Project's surveys on our website.